Indicator: 59 - Health Care Providers

Why This Is Important

If a community is to meet the needs of its children and families, it must be able to sustain an adequate health care system. An important indicator of that is how many providers are present in a community.

Where We Stand

When physicians apply for relicensure to the State’s Board of Licensure in Medicine (which licenses allopaths/MDs) and Board for Osteopathic Licensure (which licenses osteopaths/DOs), a survey is periodically enclosed and returned on a voluntary basis by the licensee. Returns from that survey indicated that the number of pediatricians, family practitioners, and general practitioners in the state fell somewhat between 1998 and 2000 (from 663 to 589) , as did the rate per 1,000 children aged 0- 17 (from 2.3 per 1,000 to 2.0 per 1,000). Over 95% of the MDs and DOs returned the surveys in each year, but the fact that not everyone did so means that the numbers for the two years are not exactly comparable.

Data Sources and Context

Data is from the Maine Cooperative Health Manpower Resource Inventory, Office of Data, Research and Vital Statistics, Maine Department of Human Services, as reported in the 2001 and 2003 Maine Kids Count Data Books. The 2003 Data Book is available on-line at http://www.mekids.org.